ATTN: Impex Users

[Knightmane]

I think this is a good place to mention something I have been seeing on my own web site's Currently Active Users page.

Apparently there are some data thieves out there using script programs to activate and run your own forum's Impex programs and the script will save your forum's data to any server they designate in the script itself, which allows these thieves to look through your data at their own leisure.

The first time I saw these people doing this, my first thought wasn't piracy; it was, "Hey, I don't have Impex installed. What's going on?"

The next time it happened, I reported the incident to the server provider where the script was trying to aim data to, and they closed that thief's server account permanently (they thanked me in an email for bringing it to their attention.)

The following times I have seen this, I have simply IP banned their ISPs. I know that is a bit extreme, but I got tired of seeing the attempts being made.

So if you have Impex installed on your web server where your forum is located, please keep in mind that you are inviting these people to hit your forum site to back up your web forum data to read through later. And yes, this will also mean that they can get your passwords, too.

Impex, while a good program, I am to understand, is a major security risk in this case. If you are not using the program, disable it and that will prevent these people from being able to use it on your own web site.

Thank you for your time. I just thought vbulletin should know what was happening with this situation. Please look into this!


(I posted this information on vbulletin.com, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this so they could take protective measures.)